Various Gentoo Linux Notes

These notes are mostly specific to Gentoo, although they may help with other distros: see also here.

AgfaPhoto AFS3 USB slide/negatives scanner (August 2013)

lsusb gives 115b:3150 Salix Technology Co., Ltd.

Google gives treat as a video device, or use Medion MD88601 USB-Diascanner (using SANE) (mine has a different box shape, but the slide/negative carriers are the same).

Garmin Forerunner 210 (April 2013)

It is supposed to appear like a USB mass storage device that you can just copy files from, but of course that did not work for me :-(
Apr 28 13:42:00 zoxed kernel: usb 7-2: new full-speed USB device number 3 using uhci_hcd
Apr 28 13:42:00 zoxed kernel: scsi7 : usb-storage 7-2:1.0
Apr 28 13:42:01 zoxed kernel: scsi 7:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Garmin   FR110 Flash      1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
Apr 28 13:42:01 zoxed kernel: sd 7:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0
Apr 28 13:42:01 zoxed kernel: sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] 11904 512-byte logical blocks: (6.09 MB/5.81 MiB)
Apr 28 13:42:01 zoxed kernel: sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Write Protect is off
Apr 28 13:42:01 zoxed kernel: sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
Apr 28 13:42:01 zoxed kernel: sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
Apr 28 13:42:01 zoxed kernel: sdd:
Apr 28 13:42:01 zoxed kernel: sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Attached SCSI removable disk
Apr 28 13:42:05 zoxed kernel: usb 7-2: USB disconnect, device number 3
Apr 28 13:42:05 zoxed kernel: sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Synchronizing SCSI cache
Apr 28 13:42:05 zoxed kernel: sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd]
Apr 28 13:42:05 zoxed kernel: Result: hostbyte=0x01 driverbyte=0x00
Try 3rd party GarminPlugin (Garmin do not support Linux). Could not get Firefox to recognise it: give up for now !!

SOLUTION (August 2013): was running kernel 3.6.11 (I think), now running 3.8.13, just tried it again, and it now it just works: mounts fine like any other USB stick and can copy the "FIT" files off it.

mtPaint 3.31 fails to compile (December 2011)

(I downloaded the sources and built in /usr/local/src).
png.c:(.text+0x1135): undefined reference to `png_set_gray_1_2_4_to_8'
SOLUTION: mtPaint is quite old, and seems to assume libpng 1.2.x, but the current in Gentoo is 1.5.
emerge -av =media-libs/libpng-1.2.46  # or whatever minor version you have
vi _conf.txt                          # replace "libpng" with "libpng12"
ln -s libpng12.so.0 libpng12.so       # I had ot do this in /usr/lib64 and /usr/lib32

Ghostscript 9.04 fails to compile (October 2011)

./psi/fapi_ft.c:295: error: 'FT_Incremental_MetricsRec' has no member named 'advance_v'
make[2]: *** [soobj/fapi_ft.o] Error 1
SOLUTION: Symbol relates to FreeType, so I update media-libs/freetype from 2.3.9-r1 to 2.4.7 and the problem was fixed

Problems with JPG/JPEG thumbnails in gthumb, and viewing JPG/JPEGs in gqview (June 2010)

I am not sure what went wrong (doing some other updates), but this worked.

SOLUTION: emerge -av1 x11-libs/gtk+ Then rm ~/.thumbnails/fail/gnome-thumbnail-factory/*.png

emerge of media-video/linux-uvc fails (Jan 2010)

(USB/UVC webcam support)
/var/tmp/portage/media-video/linux-uvc-0.1.0_pre250/work/linux-uvc-0.1.0_pre250/uvc_v4l2.c:1102: error: 'v4l_compat_ioctl32' undeclared here (not in a function)
SOLUTION: If you have kernel >= 2.6.26 then unmerge this package and build in kernel: Webcam - Gentoo Wiki.

"eject" command stops working after upgrades, incl. kernel (e.g. as called from "mkisofs") (Dec 2009)

SOLUTION: Re-emerge sys-apps/eject

auto-login to X (Dec 2009) (update of below)

(without using xdm/kdm/gdm etc.)
Fixed from below as the keyboard sometimes failed to work (as per comment in /etc/init.d/xdm).
(May not be the "best way", but it works for me.)
  1. Ensure /etc/inittab still has line "x:a:once:/etc/X11/startDM.sh".
  2. Ensure "xdm" is in the "default" runlevel (e.g "rc-update show | grep xdm", if not then "rc-update add xdm default")
  3. Create a script /usr/bin/autox containing "su - <user> -c startx >& /home/<user>/.xsession-errors &" (script name MUST be all lowercase).
  4. In /etc/conf.d/xdm update to: DISPLAYMANAGER="autox"
  5. Test with /etc/init.d/xdm start
  6. Reboot and ...

after other updates lm_sensors fails to build (current stable: 2.10.7) (Dec 2009)

"make: *** No rule to make target `asm/bitsperlong.h', needed by `prog/dump/i2cbusses.rd'. Stop"

File bitsperlong.h not found under /usr/src/linux/include
Does exist in /usr/src/linux/include/asm-generic/bitsperlong.h which states it is broken for x86-64 :-)

SOLUTION: http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=295029 says use 3.1.1 (current highest unstable), builds OK for me.

postscript: turned out to be redundant as my mobo is served by kernel module asus_atk0110.

after other updates Firefox fails to start (64 bit) (Dec 2009)

"/opt/firefox/firefox-bin: error while loading shared libraries: libexpat.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory"

SOLUTION: Check your 32bit emulation libraries are all up to date (eix -I emul-linux) (I updated app-emulation/emul-linux-x86-compat app-emulation/emul-linux-x86-gtklibs and Firefox then started.)

latest pytrainer (1.6.0.8) fails to run (May 2009)

 ~/.pytrainer/log.out: "Not able to find sqlite2 module (new in python 2.5)"
SOLUTION: Ensure python was emerged with "sqlite" flag set.

ncmpcpp fails to emerge (December 2008)

emerge ncmpcpp fails with:
checking for ncursesw5-config... no
configure: error: ncursesw5-config executable is missing,
SOLUTION: update ncurses (5.6-r2 worked with ncmpcpp 0.2.4 for me)

auto-login to X (May 2009) (update of below)

(without using xdm/kdm/gdm etc.)
(May not be the "best way", but it works for me)
  1. In /etc/inittab comment out line containing "startDM.sh".
  2. Create a script /etc/init.d/autox containing "su - <user> -c startx >& /home/<user>/.xsession-errors".
  3. Add the script to your default runlevel (eg "rc-update add autox default").
  4. Remove any runlevel entries for xdm/kdm/gdm etc (eg "rc-update del xdm")
  5. Reboot and watch with wonder :-)

WINE 1.1.4 fails to emerge (October 2008)

emerge -av app-emulation/wine-1.1.4

Calculating dependencies... done!
[ebuild     U ] app-emulation/wine-1.1.4 [1.1.0] USE="X alsa cups gecko jpeg ncurses xml (-dbus) -esd (-hal) -jack -lcms -ldap (-nas) -opengl -oss -samba (-scanner)" 0 kB
... lots of glX errors
opengl_norm.c:(.text+0xcdb8): undefined reference to `glAccum'
wgl.o: In function `wine_glGetString':
wgl.c:(.text+0x8d9): undefined reference to `glGetString'
wgl.c:(.text+0x91c): undefined reference to `glGetString'
wgl.o: In function `wglGetProcAddress':
wgl.c:(.text+0xf0b): undefined reference to `glGetString'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
winegcc: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-gcc failed
make[2]: *** [opengl32.dll.so] Error 2
SOLUTION: build with "opengl" flag.

"process `dig' is using obsolete setsockopt SO_BSDCOMPAT" (May 2008)

Upgrade net-dns/bind-tools that includes "dig". I went from 9.3.2 to 9.4.1_p1 and it fixed it.

musepack-tools fails to emerge (April 2008)

Whilst emerging media-sound/musepack-tools:
ld: i386 architecture of input file `cpu_feat.o' is incompatible with i386:x86-64 output
ld: i386 architecture of input file `synthasm.o' is incompatible with i386:x86-64 output
SOLUTION 1: Following a suggestion at Gentoo Foums: Can't emerge musepack-tools on x86_64 re-emerge using:
> "MAKEOPTS="-j1" emerge -av media-sound/musepack-tools"
This got further but then:
ld: i386 architecture of input file `fft4gasm.o' is incompatible with i386:x86-64 output
SOLUTION 2: Following suggestions at Gentoo Bug 188160 take this updated ebuild musepack-tools-1.15v-r2.ebuild install locally and re-emerge as above This got further but then:
nasm: fatal: unrecognised output format `elf64' - use -hf for a list
SOLUTION 3: use unstable ~amd64 for nasm to get 2.02 instead of -0.98.39-r3, re-emerge nasm and then musepack-tools: all compiles.

goffice fails to emerge (libpcre does not support unicode) (Jan 2008)

Whilst emerging goffice-0.6.1 as part of the emerge of app-office/gnumeric-1.8.0 :
 *   dev-libs/libpcre-6.3 does not actually support the unicode USE flag!
SOLUTION: emerge of dev-libs/libpcre from 6.3 to latest (7.4) followed by goffice again fixed it. (I think the unicode flag for libpcre was introduced sometime between those two versions.)

avidemux fails to compile assembler errors (Dec 2007)

{standard input}: Assembler messages:
{standard input}:2186: Error: no such instruction: `pabsw %xmm0,%xmm0'
{standard input}:2190: Error: no such instruction: `psignw %xmm1,%xmm0'
{standard input}:2242: Error: no such instruction: `pabsw %xmm0,%xmm0'
{standard input}:2248: Error: no such instruction: `psignw %xmm1,%xmm0'
SOLUTION: Google suggest binutils upgrade: I did (from 2.16.1 to 2.18) and it worked.

avidemux fails to compile at 95 percent done in ebuild.sh (Dec 2007)

media-video/avidemux-2.4_pre3 is masked in portage, but I tried it anyway.
 * ERROR: media-video/avidemux-2.4_pre3 failed.
 * Call stack:
 *                  ebuild.sh, line 1701:  Called dyn_compile
 *                  ebuild.sh, line 1039:  Called qa_call 'src_compile'
 *                  ebuild.sh, line   44:  Called src_compile
 *   avidemux-2.4_pre3.ebuild, line   94:  Called cmake-utils_src_compile
 *         cmake-utils.eclass, line   81:  Called cmake-utils_src_make
 *         cmake-utils.eclass, line  146:  Called die
 * The specific snippet of code:
 *      emake "$@" || die "Make failed!"
 *  The die message:
 *   Make failed!
SOLUTION: Gentoo forums suggest the SVN version from berkano layout is OK. It is, but see other problems above.
emerge -av layman               # 1.1.1 worked for me
emerge -av dev-util/subversion  # required by layman for berkano
                                # 1.4.5 worked for me
emerge -av spidermonkey         # ensure threadsafe is set
                                # 1.7.0 worked for me
layman -f
layman -a berkano
emerge -av avidemux
This may work: otherwise see next error up the page !!

MPlayer and/or GMplayer GUI in Cyrillic, Russian-like language (Sept 2007)

I had this for ages, but never bothered to fix it, as MPlayer plays the video fine. After reading this thread the fix was easy.

SOLUTION: Check /etc/make.conf and if you have "uk" in the LINGUAS entry then remove it, ensure you have "en" included ("en_GB" is not supported by MPlayer) and re-emerge mplayer ("uk" is Ukranian, not United Kingdom).

Azureus error message at start (July 2006)

I upgraded to 2.4.0.2. Firstly the upgrade from .Azureus to .azureus that occurs when you first start the new version failed: in the end I cleaned out the user config, and started again (2.4.0.2 was masked in Portage).

"Failed to access torrent file ''. Ensure sufficient temporary file space available (check browser cache usage).

SOLUTION: in /usr/bin/azureus use if [ "$1" == "" ]; then to decide if "$1" is passed to java. (Whilst you are there you could change the .Azureus references to the new .azureus directory.). Gentoo bugs 137201 and 126822. Experimental script available here fixes both the parameter error and the change in directory name.

(Google had lead me to this fix here but I repeat it here in case that page disappears !)

Azureus fails to start (June 2006)

> azureus 
Attempting to start Azureus...
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/gudy/azureus2/ui/swt/Main
>

Problem: seems like my recent upgrade from Python 2.3 to 2.4 broke the java-config script (at least in some situations).

Solution (initial): edit first line of /usr/bin/java-config to be #!/usr/bin/env python2.3)

Test: Python 2.4 (default)

> java-config --list-available-vms
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/java-config", line 14, in ?
    from java_config import jc_options
ImportError: No module named java_config
>

Test: Python 2.3

> java-config --list-available-vms
[sun-jre-bin-1.5.0.06] "Sun JRE 1.5.0.06" (/etc/env.d/java/20sun-jre-bin-1.5.0.06)
[blackdown-jdk-1.4.1] "Blackdown JDK 1.4.1" (/etc/env.d/java/20blackdown-jdk-1.4.1) *
>

SOLUTION (correct): I later found this post java-config error [SOLVED] that suggests running python-updater should fix the problem, so I ran it again (I had already done it once after the 2.3 to 2.4 update), updated the packages that no longer had an ebuild, re-ran python-updater to be sure, and Azureus now runs OK without my hack.

mplayer compilation error (January 2006)

mplayer-1.0.20060217 / libdvdread-0.9.5 / media-libs/libdvdcss-1.2.9

/usr/include/dvdread/ifo_types.h:32:2: #error "Must include <inttypes.h> or <stdint.h> before any libdvdread header."
make[1]: *** [demux_rtp.o] Error 1
SOLUTION: I was using the "dvdread" flag, remove this to use mplayer-1.0.20060217/libmpdvdkit2. Builds, but at first try it does not play DVDs: just hangs with high IO and occasional DVD drive spinup (mplayer -dvd-device /dev/hdc dvd://1) (AV files on hardrive play OK).

directfb runtime error (January 2006)

"can not find /usr/lib/directfb-0.9.22/system"

eg when running dfbinfo

SOLUTION: Re-emerged after setting VIDEO_CARDS="nvidia" and INPUT_DRIVERS="keyboard ps2mouse" in /etc/make.conf /usr/lib/directfb-0.9.22/system now exists and dfbinfo runs OK

bootchart can not find /dev/null (January 2006)

"/sbin/bootchartd: line 57: cannot redirect standard input from /dev/null: No such file or directory"
No solution yet. Could upgrade from 0.8 to 0.9.

Test on a running system: /sbin/bootchartd start; sleep 30; /sbin/bootchartd stop

SOLUTION: re-emerge 0.8 and it worked !

framebuffer / splash (January 2006)

Summary:
  1. Kernel (gentoo-sources-2.6.14-r2) config: support for framebuffer (vesa-tng), splash, console, console fonts, mtrr, initrd.
  2. emerge splashutils and splash-themes-gentoo
  3. splash_geninitramfs -v -g /boot/fbsplash-emergence-1280x1024 -r 1280x1024 emergence
  4. update grub.conf and reboot
Splash starts at ?

Notes:

emerge a52dec-0.7.4-r5 failed (January 2006)

{standard input}:3622: Error: suffix or operands invalid for `movd'

In /etc/make.conf I replaced: CFLAGS="-O3 -march=pentium4 -funroll-loops -pipe"
with: CFLAGS="-O3 -march=pentium4 -mcpu=pentium4 -fomit-frame-pointer"

SOLUTION: deleted /var/tmp/portage/a52dec-0.7.4-r5 and emerge again worked. (I do not know/care which flag did it !!)

auto-login to X (January 2006)

(without using xdm/kdm/gdm etc.)
(May not be the "best way", but it works for me)
  1. In /etc/inittab comment out line containing "startDM.sh".
  2. Create a script /etc/init.d/autox containing "su <user> -c startx".
  3. Add the script to your default runlevel (eg "rc-update add autox default").
  4. Remove any runlevel entries for xdm/kdm/gdm etc (eg "rc-update del xdm")
  5. Reboot and pray :-)

alsa-utils error (December 2005)

Whilst upgrading my kernel, and then various Alsa packages all went fine till upgrading alsa-utils from 1.0.8 to 1.0.10_rc3:

make[1]: *** No rule to make target `@POMAKEFILEDEPS@', needed by `Makefile'. Stop.

SOLUTION: After Googling around I upgraded these packages: gettext, sed, automake and then un-merged drg. Still alsa-utils would not build, but when I removed all of /var/tmp/portage/alsa-utils-1.0.10_rc3 and emerged alsa-utils it worked fine (I have FEATURES="ccache keepwork" in my make.conf). But I do not know which package upgrade really fixed it !


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